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THE SELF AND SYMBOLThou most Divine! above all womenAbove all men in consciousness.Thou in thy nearness to meHast shown me paths of love.Yea; walks that lead from hellT o the great light; where life and loveDo ever reign.Thou hast taught to me a patienceTo behold whatever state;However* beautiful and joyful; however uglyand sorrowful.T o know that these are— all!— butThe glimmerings of the greater life—Expressions of the infinite.According to the finality of that momentNow to come; in the eternal now, which thouSweet Presence, hast awakened me to—I see the light—the way.An everlasting illuminationThat takes me to the gate; the open doorT o the house of God.i

2Cosmic ConsciousnessThere I find most priceless jewels;The key to all the ways.That lead from Om to thee.A mistake—an off-turn from the apparentroad of rightIs but the bruising of thy temple,Calling thy Self—thy soul—The God within; showing thee.The nita of it all; which is but the half of me.And as thy consciousness of the twoThe nita and the ita, comes to theeA three is formed—the trinity is found.Through thee the Deity hast spokenUniting the two in the on e;Revealing the illusion of mortalityThe message of Om to the Illumined.—AH Nomad.

ARGUMENTMan is essentially a spiritual being.The source of this spiritual Omniscience wemay not, in our finite intelligence, fullycognize, because full cognition would precludethe possibility of finite expression.The destiny of man is perfection.Man perfected becomes a god.“Only the gods are immortal,”we are told.Let us consider what this means, supposingit to be an axiom of truth.Mortality is subject to change and death.Mortality is the manifest— the stage uponwhich “man in his life plays many parts.”Immortality, is what the word says it is—godhood re-cognized in the mortal. ( Im” or,“Om”—the more general term—stands forthe Changeless, Birthless, Deathless, Unnamable Power that holds the worlds in space,and puts intelligence into man.Biologists, even though they were to suc ceed in reproducing life by chemical processesfrom so-called “lifeless” (sterilized) matter,3

4Cosmic Consciousnessmaking so high a form of manifestation asman himself, yet could never name the powerby which they accomplished it.Always there must remain -the Unknownable—the Absolute.“Om,” therefore, is the word we use toexpress this Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omni present power.The term “mortal”we have already defined.The compound im-mortal, applied to individ ual man, stands for one who has made his “atone-ment”with Om, and who has, while stillin the mortal body, re-cognized himself as onewith Om.This is what it means to escape the “seconddeath,”to which the merely mortal conscious ness is subject.This is the goal of every human life; this isthe essence, the substance of all religious sys tems and all philosophies.The only chance for disputation amongtheologians and philosophers, lies in the wayof accomplishing this at-one-ment. There isnot the slightest opportunity for a differenceof opinion as what they wish to accomplish.Admitting then, that the goal of every soulis the same— immortality— (the mortal con sciousness cognizing itself as Om), we cometo a consideration of the evidence we may

Argument5find in support of this axiom. This evidencewe do not find satisfactory, in spirit communi cation; in psychic experiences; in hypnoticphenomena; and astral trips; important, andreliable as these many psychic researchphenomena are.These are not satisfactory or convincingevidences of our at-one-ment with Om,because they do not preclude the probabilityof the “second death;”but on the contrary,they verify it.However, aside from all these psychicphenomena, there is a phase of human experi ence, much more rare but becoming some what general, that transcends phenomena ofevery kind.The western world has given to theseexperiences the term “cosmic consciousness,”which term is self explanatory.The Orientals have long known of this goalof the soul, and they have terms to expressthis, varying with the many types of theOriental mind, but all meaning the same thing.This meaning, from our Occidental viewpoint,is best translated in the term liberation, signi fying to be set free from the limitations ofsense, and of self-consciousness, and to haveglimpsed the larger area of consciousness,that takes in the very cosmos.

Cosmic ConsciousnessThis experience is accompanied by a greatlight, whether this light is manifested asspiritual, or as intellectual power, determinesits expression.The object of this book is to call attentionto some of the more pronounced instances ofthis Illumination, and to classify them, accord ing as they have been expressed throughreligious enthusiasm; poetical fervor; or greatintellectual power.But we have also one other argument tomake, and this we present with a convictionof its truth, while conceding that it must re main a theory, until proven, each individualman or woman, for himself and herself. Thepostulate is this:Im-mortality (i. e. godhood) is bi-sexual.No male person can by any possibility becomean immortal god, in, of and by himself; nofemale person can be complete without the‘‘other half”that makes the ONE.Each and every SOUL, therefore, has itsspiritual counterpart—its “other half/* withwhich it unites on the spiritual plane, whenthe time comes for attainment of im-mortality.Sex is an eternal verity. The entire Cosmosis bi-sexual. Everything in the visible uni verse ; in the manifest, is the result of thisuniversal principle. “As above so below,”is

Argument7a s fe rule, as far as the ID EA goes. Thishypothesis does not preclude perfection above,of that which we find below, but anyradical reversion or repudiation of nature isinconceivable.“Male and female created he them/* Thisbeing true, male and female must they returnto the source from which they sprung, com pleting the circle, and gaining what?Consciousness of godhood; of completeness incounterpartal union. Not absorption of con*yciousness, but union, which is quite a differentidea.Out of this counterpartal union a race ofgods will be born, and these supermen, shall“inherit the earth”making it a “fit dwellingplace for the gods.”This earth is now being made fit. Thisfact may seem a far distant hope if we do notjudge with the eyes of the seer, but its prooflies in the emancipation of woman. Its evi dences are many and varied, but the awaken ing of woman is the cause.This awakening of woman constitutes thefirst rays of the dawn— that long-looked forMillenium, which many of us have regarded asa mere figure of speech, instead of as a literaltruth.The argument is not that there has been no

ftCosmic Consciousnessindividual awakening until the present time;but that never before in the finite history ofthe world has there been such a general awak ening, and as it is self evident that conditionswill reflect the idea of the majority, the factthat woman is being given her rightful placein the sense-conscious life, proves that theearth will be a fit dwelling place for a higherorder of beings than have hitherto constitutedthe majority.The numerous instances of Illumination, orcosmic consciousness which are forcing atten tion at the present time, prove that there is arace-awakening to a realization of our unitywith Om.Another point which we trust these pageswill make clear is this: So-called “revelation”is neither a personal “discovery,” nor anyspecial act of a divine power. “God spakethus and so to me,”is a phrase which the selfconscious initiate employs, because he has lostsight of the cosmic light, or because he finds itexpedient to use that phraseology in deliver ing the message of cosmic consciousness.If we will substitute the term “initiation,”for the term “revelation,” we will have aclearer idea of the truth.Perhaps some of our readers will feel thatthe terms mean the same, but for the most

Argument9part, those who have employed the word“revelation/’have used it as implying that theplan of the cosmos was unfinished, and thatthe Creator, having found some person suit able to convey the latest decision to mankind,natural laws had been suspended and therevelation made.It is to correct this view, that we emphasizethe distinction between the two words.The cosmos is complete. “As it was in thebeginning, it is now and ever shall be, worldswithout end/’A circle is without beginning or end. We,in our individual consciousness may traversethis circle, but our failure to realize its com pleteness does not change the fact that it isfinished*We can not add to the universal conscious ness; nor take away therefrom.But we can extend our own ajrea of con sciousness from the narrow limits of the per sonal self, into the heights and depths of theatman and who shall set limitations to thepower of the atman, the higher Self, when ithas attained at-one-ment with Om?It is not the purpose of this book to tracethe spiritual ascent of man further than topoint out the wide gulf between the degreesef consciousness manifested in the lower ani-

ioCosmic Consciousnessmals and that of human consciousness; againtracing in the human, the ever-widening areaof his cognition of the personal self, and itsneeds, to the awakening of the soul and itsneeds; which needs include the welfare of allliving things as an absolute necessity to in dividual happiness.Altruism, therefore, is not a virtue. It is ameans of self-preservation—without thisdegree of inititation into the boundless areaof universal, or cosmic consciousness, we maynot escape the karmic law.The revelations, therefore, upon which arefounded the numerous religious systems, arecomparable with the many and variousdegrees of initiation into TH A T W H ICH IS.They represent the degree which the initiatehas taken in the lodge.It may be argued that this fact of individualinitiation into the ever-present truth of Being,as into a lodge, offers no proof that this earthis to ultimately become a heaven. It may bethat this planet is the outer-most lodge roomand that there will never be a sufficient num ber of initiates to make the earth a fit dwellingplace for a higher order of beings than nowinhabit it. This may, indeed, be true. But allevidence tends toward the hope that even the

Argumentirplanet itself will come under the regeneratingpower of Illumination.All prophecies embody this promise; allthat we know of what materialists call “evolu tion”and occultists might well name “uncov ering of consciousness,”points to a time when“God’s will,”“shall be done on earth as it is inheaven.”All who have attained to cosmic conscious ness, in whatever degree, have prophecied atime, when this blessing would descend uponevery one; but the difficulty in adequatelyexplaining this great gift seems also to havebeen the burden of their cry.Jesus sought repeatedly to describe to hishearers the wonders of the cosmic sense, butrealized that he was too far in advance of thecyclic end; but even as at that time, a numberof disciples were capable of receiving theIllumination, so today, a larger number arecapable of attainment. If this number is greatenough to bring about the regeneration— theperfecting— of the earth conditions, then itmust be accomplished.W e believe that it is. W e make the claimthat the Millenium has dawned; and althoughit may be many years before the light of themorning breaks into the full light of the day:

12Cosmic Consciousnessyet the rays of the dawn are dispelling theworld’s long night.In his powerful and prophetic story “In theDays of the Comet,”H. G. Wells, tells of agreat change that comes over the world follow ing an atmospheric phenomenon in which a“green vapor”is generated in the clouds andfalls upon the earth with instantaneous effect.As this peculiar vapor descends, it has theeffect of putting every one to sleep; this sleepcontinues for three days and when peoplefinally awake, their interior nature has under gone a complete change.Where before they “saw dimly,”they nowsee clearly; the petty differences and quarrelsare perceived in their true perspective. In stead of place, and power, and influence, andwealth, being all-important goals of ambitionas before the change, every one now strivesto be of service to the world. Love and kind ness become greater factors than commercialexpediency and business success.In many respects, Wells' description of thegreat change and its effect upon people, corre sponds with the effect of Illumination.The sense of entering into the very heartof things; of growing plants; the birds andthe little wood animals; the intense sympathyand understanding of life described by him,

Argumentnsounds like the effect of cosmic consciousness,as related by nearly all who have attained it.How the world's activities are resumed afterthe change, and under what vastly differentincentives people work, form a part of thestory, which is written as fiction, but whichcontains the seed of a great truth.This truth is expressed in science, ashuman achievement, and in religion as fulfilledprophecy, but the truth is the same.Both religion and science point to a timewhen this earth will know freedom from strifeand suffering. Even the elements which havehitherto been regarded as beyond the bound aries of man's will, may be completely con trolled ; not may be, but will be. Manual laborwill cease. National Eugenic societies willput a stop to war, when they come to theinevitable conclusion, that no race can by anypossibility be improved, while the most per fect physical species are reserved for armies.Awakening woman will refuse—indeed theyare now refusing—to bear children to be shotdown in warfare, and crushed under the jug gernaut of commercial competition.Those who realize the signs of the times,look for the birth of cosmic consciousness as arace-consciousness, foreshadowing the newday; the “second coming o f Christ," not as a

14Cosmic Consciousnesspersonal, vicarious sacrifice, but as a factor inhuman attainment.“For I am persuaded/’said St. Paul, “thatneither death nor life, nor angels, nor prin cipalities, nor things present, nor things tocome, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, norany other creature shall be able to separateus from the love of God.”If we interpret this in the light of cosmicconsciousness, we realize that we shall know,and experience that boundless, deathless, per fect, satisfying, complete and all-embracinglove which is the goal of immortality; whichis an attribute (we may say the one attribute)of God.We are not looking for the birth of a Christchild, but of the Christ-child; we are not look ing for a second coming of a man who shallbe as Jesus was, but we are anticipating thecoming of the man (homo), who shall be cosmically conscious, even as was Jesus ofNazareth; as was Guatama, the Buddha.That there may be one man and one womanwho shall first achieve this consciousness andrealization is barely possible, but the prepond erance of evidence is for a more general awak ening to the light of Illumination.“We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be

Argument15changed in the twinkling of an eye,”said St.Paul.The prophecy of “the woman clothed withthe sun, and with the moon under her feet,”is not of a woman, but of Woman, in the lightof a race of men who have attained cosmicconsciousness.Nothing more is needed to make a heavenof earth, than that the great light and lovethat comes of Illumination, shall become domi nant.It will solve all problems, because problemsarise only because we are groping in the dark.The elimination of selfishness; of condemna tion ; of fear and anger, and doubt, must havefar greater power for universal happiness andwell-being than all the systems which theologyor science or politics could devise. Indeed, allthese systems are sporadic and empirical at tempts to express the vague dawning ofIllumination.In the fulness of its light, the need for sys tems will have passed away.

284Cosmic Consciousnesspart of the price of liberation. The illuminedmind sees and hears and feels the vibrationsthat emanate from all who are travailing in themeshes of the sense-conscious life; but throughall the sympathetic sorrow, there runs the threadof a divine assurance and certainty of profoundjoy—a bliss that passes comprehension or descrip tion.Mrs. Sharp, in the final conclusion of the Mem oirs says “to quote my husband's own words—ever below all the stress and failure, below allthe triumph of his toil, lay the beauty of hisdream.”In accordance with an oft-repeated request,these lines are inscribed on the Iona cross carvedin lava, which marks the grave wherein is laid torest the earthly form of William Sharp:“Farewell to the known and exhausted,Welcome the unknown and illimitable.”And this:“Love is more great than we conceive, anddeath is the keeper of unknown redemptions.”They are from his higher Self; from the illu mined “Dominion of Dreams.”

CHAPTER XVMETHODS OF ATTAINMENT: TH E WAYOF ILLUMINATIONOriental philosophies recognize four importantmethods of yoga.Yoga is the word which signifies “uniting withGod.”From what has gone before in these pages,the reader will understand that unity with Godmeans to us, the uncovering of the god-naturewithin or above, the human personality; it meansthe attainment and retainment in fullness of cos mic consciousness. We do not believe that anyone retains full and complete realization of cosmicconsciousness and remains in the physical body.The numerous instances to which we allude informer chapters, are at best, but temporary flightsinto that state, which is the goal of the soul’spilgrimage, and the only means of escape fromthe “ceaseless round of births and deaths”whichso weighed upon the heart of Gautama.The paths of yoga then, are the methods bywhich the mind, in the personal self, is made toperceive the reality of the higher Self, and its2

INGLUDINQCLAIRVOYANCE, CLAIRAUDIENCEPREMONITION AND IMPRESSIONSCLAIRVO YANT PSYCHOMETRYCLAIRVO YANT CRYSTAL-GAZINGD ISTANT CLAIRVOYANCEPAST CLAIRVOYANCEFUTURE CLAIRVOYANCESECOND-SIGHTPREVISIONCLAIRVO YANT DEVELOPMENTASTRAL-BO DY TRAVELLINGASTRAL-PLANE PHENOMENAPSYCHIC INFLUENC

MAN’S RELATION TO GOD AND TO HIS FELLOW-MEN The great riddle and a new solution. The persistence of the Ideal of Perfected Man; Has it any basis in history ? The superlative faculty of spiritual sight as depicted by artists, painters and sculptors. Symbols of consciousness. The way in which th